I haven't been able to order the SVS books because I cannot
afford the set, but I would love them donated to me. Can we
talk?

I think I was born for this work. I have had similar
experiences with my education as you, but I just turned 30 and
am in the right place to be extremely productive.

I just finished my master's degree in education at Harvard
Graduate School of Education, and have an extreme dislike for
the current traditional system. I can send you some of my
Harvard papers to show my current dissatisfaction with and ideas
for a better system.

I am unemployed right now (which is why I can't buy the books) -
hardly any work out there for me - the traditionalist view of
education is being supported by Bush so us nontraditionalists
are not able to find jobs. And I don't think I'll be working
for SVS directly because they require new staff to donate their
time without pay. I have huge loans that I have to pay back
starting in a month.

I can tell you more in private email.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth

--- Linda Siska <siskal_at_hotmail.com> wrote:

<HR>
<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV>
<P><BR><BR></P>
<DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<P>When I was in high school, back in the sixties, I was one of
the shy, quiet types who sat in the back of the class and was
rarely noticed -- not by teachers, and not by my peers.&nbsp; I
studied hard and did extremely well; my grades were my
self-esteem.&nbsp; But I was enough of a rebel to resent a
system which gave me so few choices.&nbsp; My time, my life,
were not my own and I hated it.</P></DIV>
<P>I knew there had to be a better way.&nbsp; I resolved to
someday open a school of my own -- a school where children would
want to be -- a school that empowered instead of
imprisoned.&nbsp; I went off to college and majored in
education, reading _Summerhill_ and John Holt on the side.&nbsp;
The plan was to teach a few years in public school -- just to
gain experience -- and then strike out on my own.</P></DIV>
<P>Life has a way of altering our plans.&nbsp; I married young,
had children, and moved to Germany with my husband.&nbsp;
Through all of the changes, my desire for a 'someday school'
never abated.&nbsp; I studied Montessori, Waldorf and
alternative schools looking for the right model.&nbsp; When I
answered an ad in _New Age Magazine_ for a school called Sudbury
Valley, I knew I had found what I'd been looking for.&nbsp; The
problem was, I was still in Germany, living in a military
community and never knowing from one year to the next if we
would stay or 'go home.'</P>
<DIV></DIV>
<P>Eventually, I took my teenage son, a high-school drop-out,
and moved temporarily to Framingham.&nbsp; Sean was still a
minor, so I lived with him for the first of his two years at SVS
before returning to my life in Germany.&nbsp; </P>
<DIV></DIV>
<P>I am now 53 years old.&nbsp; My husband will be retiring in
another year, and we will at last be returning to the
states.&nbsp; For my dream of a school, it is too late.&nbsp; I
no longer have the energy or determination it takes to get a
Sudbury model school up and running, nor do I have the desire it
takes to keep one going.</P>
<DIV></DIV>
<P>Surprisingly, I have no regrets.&nbsp; Looking back on my
life, I believe&nbsp;my dream&nbsp;was not really about founding
a school but about finding SVS.&nbsp; It was at SVS that my son
regained a sense of dignity and self-worth, and it was there
that he met the beautiful young woman whom he will marry this
coming June.&nbsp; And it was in Framingham that I met some of
the most incredible women it has ever been my privilege to
know.&nbsp; Life is good, and I am blessed!</P>
<DIV></DIV>
<P>What I do have is a full set of 'start your own school'
materials from SVS.&nbsp; If there is someone out there who
could use the books, tapes and videos, please let me know.&nbsp;
I will gladly donate them to your cause and know that
my&nbsp;goal is&nbsp;being fulfilled, though not by myself.</P>
<DIV></DIV>
<P>Yours in common spirit -- Linda<BR><BR></P>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>Add photos to your e-mail
with MSN 8. Get 2
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